Device for handling several card-trays togetgher.



No. 672,522'. Patented Apr. 23, |901. i w. s. Donn.

DEVISE FOR HANDLING SEVERAL CARD TRAYS TUGETHEB.

(Application led Nov. 1, 1900.)

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UNITED WALTER S. DODD, OF WRENTI-IAM, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO LIBRARY BUREAU, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

DEVICE FOR HANDLING SEVERAL CARD-TRAYS TOGETHER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 672,522, dated April 23,1901.

Application filed November l, 1900. Serial No. 35,087. (No model.)

To a/Z whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, WALTER S. DODD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Wrentham, county of Norfolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Devices for Handling Several Card-Trays Together, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

My invention is a multifile-handler particularly intended for facilitating the work of large ofiices. In various lines of business Where the accounts and other kinds of bookkeeping and lrecords are kept by the card system a large v number of file-holders or card-trays are necessarily employed, and these have to be put in i .i the safe every night andgot out every morning f; zo` to be distributed to the various desks requiring them, the result being not only a great i 3 `amount `of labor in separately handling all the` individual trays, but many accidents'and .y other inconveniences result, and accordingly I havedevised an apparatus whereby any desired number of trays may be simultaneously withdrawn from the safe or other receptacle and carried together for distribution, if desired, or, if preferred, a series thereof may be placed in a large distributing-case and carried where desired, the reverse operation bei ing performed when the trays are to be gath- "ered up, at which time the trays are received y by the primary supporting device, and the 3`5various supporting devices With their loads i p are placed in the distributing-case to be carried back to the safe.

i 1 The various details of my invention and i Vfurtherladvantages thereof will be more fully "4o pointed out in the course of the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which I have illustrated one form of my invention. In the drawings, Figure l is a perspective View of `a cabinet or suitable receptacle, showing afull complement of trays in various positions and illustrating the application there- `to of` a portion of my invention, one set ,of "trays just` being withdrawn and another set being in position for insertion in the cabinet. l Fig. 2 is a perspective view of one of the supporting devices or carrying-boards. Figf is a perspective view of a carrying-case,partly loaded.

The cabinet or standard case A and the various card trays or files o., arranged to be kept therein, are of any usual or preferred kind, and for the purposes of this specification the cabinet A may be considered to represent shelves in a filing-vault or safe, the idea being to represent by Fig. l simply one use for which my invention is adapted.

The respective trays a are provided with convenient hooks or engaging devices, herein shown as the finger-pulls at, provided for the purpose of pulling out the trays, these pulls being formed, as shown, on the lo'wer edge of the label-holderso?.

A support or receiving device 1J (shown in detail in Fig. 2) is provided having a suitable for'm for supporting a number of trays at once and provided with an engaging device b', suitable in form and position to coperate with the engaging devices of the trays, being shown as consisting of a rod extending from postsl, mounted at the front edge of the board b, the term board being meant to include a device of any shape and ymaterial suitable for the purpose herein set forth. This board or supporting device has guides or separating devices b3, shown in the form of cleats with sloping sides, which tend automatically to aid in correctly positioning the various trays as they are placed quickly upon the board. The latter projects at its-ends to be grasped by the attendant for carrying a load of trays, convenient hand-holes b4 being provided in said ends. When now it is desired to remove a set of trays, the board b is placed, as shown in the upper part of Fig. l, so that its engaging device b' will simultaneously catch under the engaging devices a of a row of trays, and thereupon the board is moved upwardly and outwardly, acting simultaneously to withdraw the trays and place beneath them a support on which they may rest when entirely withdrawn from the cabinet and may be carried wherever desired. The board is narrower than the lengths of the trays, as is shown in the lower portion of Fig. l, so that when it is desired to replace the trays the trays on the board are simply shoved IOO ` into their places uniil the board comes adjacent the cabinet, when it is gradually dropped into the position shown in the upper part of Fig. l, the trays being meanwhile'shoved in farther and farther until finally they are in place, whereupon the rod b is disengaged from the hooks, leaving the trays in proper stored position. By this means, as is evident, aplurality of trays are simultaneously pulled out or pushed in, as the case may be, and are simultaneously engaged or disengaged, as the Vcase may be, by the supporting-board, the latter also as it comes up between the adjacent trays automatically shifting them into proper alinement by reason of the sloping walls of the cleats b3.

Having withdrawn a set of trays `on the board or support b, the latter, instead of being carried to a desk or elsewhere, may be placed in a carrying-case for the convenience of very large offices where a great many trays are tobe frequently handled. This carryingcase is shownin Fig. 3, where it will be seen -to comprise a suitable frame of 'light but strong construction provided with handles c or trucks c' at its ends, by which it may be carried or moved, and having cleats o2 at suitable heights, on which the carrying boards or supports b may be placed.V

The case C has an inside length corresponding to the length of the carrying-boards b and a -depth corresponding to the depth of the trays to be carried. i

\ It will be understood thatI am not limited to the precise details of construction which I have herein set forth, as various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention. For instance, the engaging devices Yneed not belocated as shown or be oli the vkind shown, so far as certain of the claims are concerned, and so, likewise, the shape and size of the support b maybe varied and other carrying means provided, and the alining devices may be changed, or, in other words, I wish it understood that I considerthis invention to be broadly new and intend my claims to be commensurate therewith.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s`

1. A device of the kind described, comprising a portable support arranged to receive a plurality of trays thereon side by side, and provided with means for engaging said trays for simultaneously withdrawing them from a cabinet or placing them in a cabinet.-

2. A device of the kind described, comprising a portable support arranged to receive a plurality of trays thereon side by side, and provided with means for engaging said trays for simultaneously withdrawing them from a cabinet or placing them in a cabinet, and means for maintaining said trays in proper alim-ement on said support.

3. A device of the kind described, compris- .ing a portable support arranged to receive a plurality of trays thereon side by side, and provided with means for engaging said trays for simultaneously withdrawing them from a cabinet or placing them in a cabinet, combined with a carrying-case, said case having a length and depth for receiving several supports and their loads of trays, and means for removably sustaining a plurality of said supports and their loads to be carried for distribution.

4. A device of the kind described, consisting of a board having at its front edge a rod raised in position to engage simultaneously the pulls of a plurality of trays, combined with said trays, each having a hook-shaped pull located adjacent the lower edge of the y label-holder.

5. A device of the kind described,consisting of a board adapted to receive a plurality of trays, means for automatically alining said trays when placed thereon, and lifting means by which the board and vits load may be carried.

6. A device of the kind described, consisting of a board adapted .to receive a plurality of trays and provided with means coperating with said trays for simultaneously engaging the trays and-maintaining them against longitudinal movement on the board, said board being narrower than thelengths of the trays, whereby'the trays project at their rear ends from said board in position to be inserted in a cabinet while still sustained by the board.` l

7 The combination with a plurality of trays each having at or adjacent its front end an engaging device, of a handling device for simultaneously removing said plurality of trays from a cabinet, said device being provided with means coperating with the engaging device of the trays for simultaneouslyr pulling the latter from the cabinet.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

' WALTER S. DODD.

Witnesses: f

GEo. H. MAXWELL, GEo. W. GREGORY.

IOO

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